Yes, Tylenol is a scary one that was not well publicized for a long time. We basically stopped giving it to Mom because she was so small and we couldn't be sure what dosage would be too much. We gave liquid Advil (ibuprofen) and watched her like a hawk.

The thing about substances that promote quicker healing is that they might do so by encouraging cells to divide more efficiently, and cancer is based on rapid cell division. So can some of those substances trigger rogue cell division? When will we know--before people start taking it, or after? That's a huge risk to take, even for fame and money.

Speaking of money, a friend of mine pointed out that in the days when his father was a football player (for the Eagles, over forty years ago), he got a salary. A good salary compared to office workers, but a salary within the normal range of achievement. These days the money is off the scale for many athletes, especially if you add deals with sponsors. So the incentive to give oneself an edge is overwhelming. (Not so much with skating these days, of course!) I mean, wouldn't many people be willing to risk legal or medical complications to be the face of Nike or Adidas?

"The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency issued Aug. 24 penalties against Armstrong that stripped his seven Tour de France titles and banned him for life from all sports governed by federations that are signatories to the World Anti-Doping Code. USADA sanctioned him for use, possession, trafficking and administration of prohibited substances and/or methods. "

The sentence that got me: "Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling." This was said by the president of the international governing body, the UCI, Pat McQuaid. That doesn't just close the door on Armstrong, it slams it shut and padlocks it.

Adding to the verdict, Armstrong is apparently being asked to pay back millions of dollars (in euros) that he collected for winning the Tour de France those seven times, both prize money and bonuses.

In my business, educational publishing, we often write or publish articles about people of achievement. Obviously it's more interesting for kids if we use people whose achievements are current. Can you imagine how hard it is to trust any choice we make after seeing something like this? We're afraid to touch any story of an athlete, even one at the pinnacle of his/her sport, after seeing something like this unfold, or the stories several years ago about how several "home run kings" of baseball used muscle juice to break their records. I can understand also why kids grow up jaded and mistrustful of anything they hear or read.

Really, it's incomprehensible that a man like Armstrong couldn't have foreseen the damage he'd wreak by his actions.